Well i haven't been on here for quite a while! Hope all of you are doing well and your Commer's aren't rusting too fast!
I have been incredibly busy with Uni, and living 3 hours away from the Commer has made working on it a little problematic!
Anyway, i am hoping to return to playing with the Commer soon and rust correction aside, i plan on sorting things out that i know i won’t be happy with when its running....like the brakes! I intend on eventually swapping out the engine for something with a little more oomph and an extra gear, so I need brakes to cope with that.
Now i know that there is the Humber front disc option that actually isn’t really an option as they are like hens teeth and I can only assume that they wouldn’t be worth the effort of sourcing anyway! So presumably that leaves me with the option of making something else fit.
This in turn causes problems as the front brakes also accommodate the handbrake. Now what are my options? These are solutions and problems that popped into my head:
Solutions:
1: Rear disc brake callipers upfront? This would then retain the front handbrake and allow me to keep using the old rear axle. Many vehicles use large discs out back although the majority of them are solid, not vented. After having solid discs on my old Audi, i wonder how worthwhile vented ones will be on a machine that will hardly ever go quickly as the Audi never suffered from brake fade and the brakes were exceptionally good! But with the extra weight of the commer, could that then lead to more heat than i anticipate?
2: Swapping out the rear axle so that it has a rear handbrake (or can the old one be converted to rear handbrake?), then regular front disc brakes can be fitted.
3: Stop worrying and just finish the damn thing, then run a servo!
Problems:
1: By changing any brakes, i would also more than likely be changing the PCD of the hubs, which then means finding matching stuff? Otherwise running hub adaptors is going to be a pain on the front with limited space…
2: Mounting disc brakes on the front. Would I simply just be able to weld calliper brackets onto my existing hubs, then source suitable bearings for the rotors that will slide over the spindle? Or would I use the hubs off another car and modify them to fit onto the Commer’s existing suspension arrangement? Seeing as I intend on lowering it, maybe that would then open up some nice options for different shocks and springs?
3: The current rear axle won’t be able to take the extra horseys of a better engine, so it will need changing anyway? Can different drums brakes be fitted to the axle?
4: I will need to also get a different master cylinder presumably to match up with the new brakes, would installing a new one to the existing comer arrangement be particularly difficult? I have never really had anything to do with pedal boxes before.
That’s all I can think of right now, Ideally some suggestions on donor vehicles for parts would be lovely! I was thinking that maybe 4x4s/vans would be ideal due to the size of the brakes and their ability to handle the weight? Or would car parts be sufficient? Like stuff off larger vehicles such as 5 series and the like?
Any help would be greatly appreciated!
I have been incredibly busy with Uni, and living 3 hours away from the Commer has made working on it a little problematic!
Anyway, i am hoping to return to playing with the Commer soon and rust correction aside, i plan on sorting things out that i know i won’t be happy with when its running....like the brakes! I intend on eventually swapping out the engine for something with a little more oomph and an extra gear, so I need brakes to cope with that.
Now i know that there is the Humber front disc option that actually isn’t really an option as they are like hens teeth and I can only assume that they wouldn’t be worth the effort of sourcing anyway! So presumably that leaves me with the option of making something else fit.
This in turn causes problems as the front brakes also accommodate the handbrake. Now what are my options? These are solutions and problems that popped into my head:
Solutions:
1: Rear disc brake callipers upfront? This would then retain the front handbrake and allow me to keep using the old rear axle. Many vehicles use large discs out back although the majority of them are solid, not vented. After having solid discs on my old Audi, i wonder how worthwhile vented ones will be on a machine that will hardly ever go quickly as the Audi never suffered from brake fade and the brakes were exceptionally good! But with the extra weight of the commer, could that then lead to more heat than i anticipate?
2: Swapping out the rear axle so that it has a rear handbrake (or can the old one be converted to rear handbrake?), then regular front disc brakes can be fitted.
3: Stop worrying and just finish the damn thing, then run a servo!
Problems:
1: By changing any brakes, i would also more than likely be changing the PCD of the hubs, which then means finding matching stuff? Otherwise running hub adaptors is going to be a pain on the front with limited space…
2: Mounting disc brakes on the front. Would I simply just be able to weld calliper brackets onto my existing hubs, then source suitable bearings for the rotors that will slide over the spindle? Or would I use the hubs off another car and modify them to fit onto the Commer’s existing suspension arrangement? Seeing as I intend on lowering it, maybe that would then open up some nice options for different shocks and springs?
3: The current rear axle won’t be able to take the extra horseys of a better engine, so it will need changing anyway? Can different drums brakes be fitted to the axle?
4: I will need to also get a different master cylinder presumably to match up with the new brakes, would installing a new one to the existing comer arrangement be particularly difficult? I have never really had anything to do with pedal boxes before.
That’s all I can think of right now, Ideally some suggestions on donor vehicles for parts would be lovely! I was thinking that maybe 4x4s/vans would be ideal due to the size of the brakes and their ability to handle the weight? Or would car parts be sufficient? Like stuff off larger vehicles such as 5 series and the like?
Any help would be greatly appreciated!
